The Haggle System

I’m really excited to make this post because of all the time and effort that has gone into this. I know I’ve been relatively distant and quiet lately but it’s for good reason. I’m finally finishing up my vision of the new TFN Haggle System. I know I’ve talked briefly about the Haggle System but I don’t think I’ve ever fully sat down and explained how it all works, and now that I’m nearing completion and I know exactly what I’m looking at I want to share it with everyone.

I’ve been talking over the past few months about all of these different ‘Systems’ that are being designed for TFN without much explanation of what they are or what they do. Well I’m proud to finally get to sit down with one of these (near) finished Systems to go over exactly what it is. If you guys remember the classic vanilla version of Bloodlines then you’ll remember that the Haggle Feat was never used what so ever, in fact by the end of the game you always had more money than you knew what to do with even with a Haggle score of 1. Well I aimed to change all of that, dramatically!!

I have completely changed the face of the Haggle Feat therefore changing the overall strategy of TFN. Players make most of their money by doing quests and getting monetary gifts in exchange; along with experience. Well now all of these monetary values are dependent on your Haggle Feat score. If you have a low Haggle Feat score, you won’t receive much cash for completing a mission, likewise if your Haggle Feat is high, you will receive much more money for completing a quest. This only scratches the surface of what I’ve done, another large game changing feature of this new system is the fact that you can now Bribe your way through Quests, regardless of your Haggle Feat score. Haggle now operates exactly how Persuasion used to, but only as it pertains to money. You can bribe people for information like passwords, locations, people, etc… A few examples of this is the hotel desk clerk in Empire Arms Hotel, you can bribe him for Jezebel’s key or the upstairs security guard in the Blood Bank, you can bribe him to let you stay up there AND even for a few extra bucks to let you in to the CIS room. Pretty much everywhere you found Persuasion to be of use when it came to getting something from someone, Bribery was added. Also you can bribe people regardless of your Haggle Feat score but it will cost you according to your score. If you have a low Haggle score then bribery will cost you dearly, likewise if you have a high Haggle score, bribery won’t cost very much.

Several other smaller features were also added to really spice up the Haggle System; Blackmail and Prostitution being at the top of this list. There are rare circumstances now where you can blackmail an NPC to give you money in exchange for your silence or cooperation, and in many cases will earn extra XP and money for doing this. A few examples of this is the blackmailing of Strauss for keeping quiet about his Gargoyle or blackmailing Julius for money in exchange for his life. In both cases you have the chance to earn extra money (dependent on your Haggle Feat) and earn extra XP (as well as a reduction in your Humanity for good aligned characters).

This new system also touches down on every item, occult piece, weapon, lore book, etc.. in the game. Every value has been adjusted for this new system making money an extremely important part of the game. I think you will find that the Haggle Feat to be extremely useful for buying goods like lore books for increasing your stats, buying weapons, ammo, paying NPCs money for information, quest items, etc… You can choose to keep your Haggle Feat at 1 but you will find yourself broke for most of the game and you can forget about buying lore books for stat upgrades.

Below is a complete listing of every file that has been affected by this new Haggle System. In every case having a higher Haggle score will be beneficial for the player.

Last edited by Zer0Morph on Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:44 am; edited 13 times in total

I found, while testing the BETA, that buying an haggle book from Akeem just didn't gave back enough benefits. Like, the book was 1.1k, and the money i'd make from increasing my haggle feat with it would never pay it back.

I'm actually a bit surprised that this new system hasn't gotten more attention or feedback, considering how different it's going to make playing Bloodlines. I guess because there's no neat graphics attached that it was past over, which is fine because when people sit down and play, maybe not even realizing this system was created at first, and notice they aren't getting much money to do anything they're going to kick up a fuss. Then I'm sure this new system will get talked about, LOL.

The system looks pretty neat, Zero. I personally believe that such systems and scripts are far more important than graphics. After all, it's the gameplay that make certain game a good one, not the graphics.I'm looking forward to trying it out

Thanks guys! I've been Beta testing it on my own time and playing with a Haggle score of 1 is leaving me broke and making the game very challenging. I have no money for Blood Packs, ammunition, bribery, nothing... I have found myself saving up for armor, lol. It feels like a whole new Feat has been introduced to Bloodlines, very exciting!

IT'S DONE, IT'S FINALLY DONE! I have posted the final spreadsheet of every dialogue file I have changed and what the new file does in relation to the Haggle System. Also I have tested every single file to make sure everything works the way it's supposed to. Check it out when you get time, it's an awesome system.

Hmm, if this means that more money is obtainable, then perhaps something also do is add more of the...phrases that appear when looking at your wallet, depending on your amount of cash. As it is now, it keeps saying the same thing once you get past about 1000$. Adding the strings is easy, though what else needs to be done to add them in, I don't know.